{"id":34442,"date":"2019-02-20T11:29:57","date_gmt":"2019-02-20T03:29:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/?p=34442"},"modified":"2019-02-20T11:29:58","modified_gmt":"2019-02-20T03:29:58","slug":"epson-tries-to-redefine-food-and-drink-biz-one-print-at-a-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/2019\/02\/20\/epson-tries-to-redefine-food-and-drink-biz-one-print-at-a-time\/","title":{"rendered":"EPSON tries to redefine food-and-drink biz one print at a time"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Making siopao buns for her family and friends is a regular affair for Nelly Co. One day in a typical gathering at home in 1994, as she watches the familiar faces smile, laugh, and chat in between bites, she\u2019s suddenly struck with what seems like a crazy idea: could this become a business?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today, more than two decades later, those same siopaos are enjoyed by thousands of Filipinos every day in the Philippines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s because Nelly Co\u2019s home cooking became Nathaniel\u2019s, which over the years has grown into a 14-venue-strong food corporation that also exports products to Japan and the US. According to her daughter Faye Nerissa, who now works as the company\u2019s sales and marketing director, the success came as a complete surprise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMy mum just dreamed of having another source of income, so that she could provide her children a better quality of life,\u201d she says. \u201cShe never expected the business to become this big thing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite the company\u2019s rapid development, Faye still describes it as a \u201cfamily business.\u201d At first, it\u2019s a description that seems at odds with the company\u2019s ever-growing size and popularity. But dig a little deeper and it starts to make sense. From the development and production to sales and marketing, the family does everything itself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOur customers understand this,\u201d says Faye. \u201cWhich is why they know that they get what they pay for \u2013 and why they keep coming back for more.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s how it\u2019s always been, and that\u2019s how it always should be. It\u2019s what sets Nathaniel\u2019s apart<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"\/<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

By giving the company the tools to oversee its own label production, Epson\u2019s C3510 printer helps it stay true to its DIY, family values. Owning one means Nathaniel\u2019s doesn\u2019t have to meet the minimum order requirements of an external printing company and are free to print labels as and when they need them. Faye says this saves time and money, makes it easier to address any errors, and gives the company greater control over product release times.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe no longer have to delay launches while we wait for another company to deliver our labels. It\u2019s been great for our sales, as we can now release new products as soon as they\u2019re ready,\u201d she says. \u201cAnd it\u2019s also helped us to sell more of them, as marketing is crucial to encouraging customers to try new things and the new labels look fantastic.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s because the C3510 uses Micro Piezo printhead \u2013 a patented system that uses mechanical pressure, rather than heat, to deposit microscopic droplets of ink onto its labels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Created when piezoelectric elements in the printheads contract in response to an applied voltage, the mechanical pressure forces ink out of thousands of fine nozzles on the printhead at a rate of 40,000 times a second. As a result, the printer produces sharp, rich, virtually grain-free labels that put industrial size printers to shame.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe printers also produce chemical-free, waterproof labels that are safe for our food products,\u201d says Faye. For SMEs operating in the food industry, the importance of this feature is difficult to overstate, as is the printer\u2019s compact size and low price.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"\/<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In fact, the Epson C3510 printer\u2019s compact size meant that Nathaniel\u2019s could easily integrate the device into its small production area without having to expand its office, meaning the company could retain a hands-on \u201cfamily\u201d approach, whilst simultaneously improving the standards of its printing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It brought the printing process back home. And by delivering greater flexibility, quality, and reliability, it opened that home to a new world of possibilities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOur dream is to get our products into the hands of non-Filipinos in the US and Japan, two countries where we\u2019re already popular among the local Filipino communities,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAnd we know that the only way to do that is through sharper marketing, packaging, and labeling. We don\u2019t think it\u2019s going to be easy to reach that market. But based on what we know we can do with the Epson C3510 printer, we feel like we\u2019re in with a fighting chance.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By giving the company the tools to oversee its own label production, Epson\u2019s C3510 printer helps it stay true to its DIY, family values. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":34443,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19,70],"tags":[563,307,96],"class_list":["post-34442","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-headlines","category-printers","tag-epson","tag-printer","tag-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34442","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34442"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34442\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34443"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34442"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34442"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34442"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}